It's all adding up for Aussie genius

It's completely unexpected, I didn't have any inkling at all, which is quite a contrast to the Fields Medal, where you hear rumours here and there

September 20, 2006

A former child maths prodigy from Australia, a doctor treating
children with genetic diseases in Pennsylvania's Amish country and
a freshwater turtle expert are among 25 recipients of this year's
MacArthur Foundation "genius grants".

The $663,000, no-strings-attached fellowships announced today by
the Chicago-based John and Catherine MacArthur Foundation recognise
people in a wide array of fields.

For Australian Terence Tao, 31, the fellowship comes weeks after
the UCLA professor won the Fields Medal, often described as the
"Nobel Prize of maths".

"It's completely unexpected. I didn't have any inkling at all,
which is quite a contrast to the Fields Medal, where you hear
rumours here and there," Tao said.

Other fellows include Josiah McElheny, 40, a master glassblower
from New York; Edith Widder, 55, a deep-sea explorer from Florida;
Regina Carter, 40, a classically trained jazz violinist from New
York; and Matias Zaldarriaga, 35, a Harvard University professor
from Argentina, who is working to uncover the early history of the
cosmos.

"These awards are about more than money," said Jonathan F.
Fanton, president of the MacArthur Foundation. "They carry an
affirmation not only of individual creativity but are also a mark
of respect for a whole field of endeavour.

"These are activities that society doesn't always give proper
due or comment to."

Among the latest fellows is David Carroll, who was eight years
old the first time he wandered into a Connecticut wetland and came
face-to-face with a turtle.

The naturalist, author and illustrator - now 64 - has spent
decades recording the ecology of the north-eastern New England
states, especially around his home in central New Hampshire.

"It's such an affirmation," Carroll said of the fellowship.

"To be able to look ahead and know that I have a period of time
to focus mainly on creative efforts and not the daily staying
afloat that most of us have ... it enables my concentration on
expanding my creative efforts."

Each fellow got a surprise call recently telling them they had
been chosen for the grant by an anonymous 12-member selection
committee and the foundation's board of directors.

"I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a prank caller," said
Kevin Eggan, 32, a developmental biologist and principal faculty
member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

"Shock, amazement, disbelief, gratitude - all those things come
to mind with a surprise of this magnitude."

Eggan is an expert in embryonic stem cells and somatic cell
nuclear transfer, otherwise known as therapeutic cloning. He said
he valued the pat on the back from the foundation, which has named
732 fellows since 1981.

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